Henry Burris needs to take his QB rankings and shove it

The man who once told TSN’s panel to shove it because they dared to criticize his play thrust himself back into the limelight by, get this, criticizing the play of quarterbacks.

Oh, how the worm has turned.

Burris was asked for his top nine quarterbacks on the CFL podcast this week and, quite frankly, the list is almost complete garbage and feels like an attempt by Burris to massage his massive ego and grind an axe or two while he was at it.

The list starts off with Mike Reilly and Bo Levi Mitchell in the top two spots and I don’t think anyone would quibble with that, so you’re thinking, “This isn’t so bad.”

Matt Nichols comes in at No. 3, and while that is debatable, it is also defensible. Nichols had a terrific year in 2017 and finally showed he is much more than the Alex Smith of the CFL. Is he an elite quarterback capable of taking over games and leading Winnipeg to that long lost Grey Cup title, I don’t know, but he has continued to improve since landing in Winnipeg and saying he is the third-best QB in the CFL is not something worth fighting over.

I’m not even sure where to start, but Ricky Ray below both Trevor Harris and Jeremiah Masoli? Did Ray not just lead the Argos to a championship two months ago? In what universe do you rank Harris, who has never started a full season in the CFL, or Masoli, who had 10 very good games to end last year but it was still just 10 games, ahead of a four-time, and the defending, Grey Cup champion quarterback? It also defies logic considering what Burris used as his reasoning for leaving Zach Collaros out of his top nine, but more on that in a second.

Of course, when Burris was called out on this nonsense by, of all people, Argos running back Brandon Whitaker, he had a response.

Its funny how YOU didnt respect the question I was asked.. As of right now, Ricky hasn’t signed back.. Is he retiring or not? I dont know.. Therefore, i cant truly rank him until he’s back.. Sorry Im not in my living room naming names.. i have a method!

Hank has a method, you guys. If that method is anything other than pulling names randomly out of a hat, it’s horrendously flawed. Also, if Ray being unsigned was an issue, why rank him at all?

Burris changed his tune once Ray did sign.

@CFLonTSN@CFL Great to see one of the All time greats back!!!! He’s still one of the top 2 QBs in this league… Look at his turn around with helping the Argos now win two Grey Cups!!! Argos are stacked at QB.. For the present and future!!! #GreatHesBack

Next up we have Darian Durant. Him being on the list at all, let alone at No. 8, is mystifying. Sure, eighth isn’t exactly top tier, but it still means Hank thinks Durant is a starting-calibre quarterback and that… well, where is the laughing emoji when you need it.

Seriously, unless Burris spent last year with his head buried in his rear end, how can he think Durant is the eighth-best quarterback in the CFL? He might not be the eighth-best quarterback in the world named Darian Durant and I’m pretty sure there aren’t seven others.

But the most notable part of Burris’ list was the non-ranking of Collaros, the same Collaros who took his job as Ticats’ starting quarterback in 2014. Burris has not been shy about burying the Ticats at every turn since he was dumped by the team following the 2013 season. Burris spent the lead-up to the 2015 Grey Cup crapping on Kent Austin and subtly threw shade at the Ticats organization during his victory speech after the 2016 Grey Cup.

So if you think Collaros’ non-inclusion is coincidental, it’s not. It is Henry Burris using his platform to settle old scores.

His reasoning for Collaros’ omission — “He’s lost 12 straight, guys. A team that has great personnel, a great system to play in. And even when Jeremiah went in to play in that system, Jeremiah had success.” — is complete hogwash. The system was not the same; Collaros played under the awful Austin/Ptaszek system while Masoli flourished once June Jones took over. Burris should know better than anyone that a change in coaches leads to a change in philosophy and that the system we watched Collaros play under and the one we watched Masoli play under were in no way, shape or form the same.

It’s also a little bit funny that a guy who would take every opportunity to tell you why he wasn’t the reason his team lost a game is using QB winzzzzzzzz as a measure of how good a quarterback is.

Remember his low ranking of Ray from earlier? If wins matter so much, shouldn’t Ray be his No. 1 QB? (No. 2, because even if he doesn’t say it, Henry Burris is still the No. 1 QB in the CFL according to Henry Burris.)

I know all the Burris sycophants of R-Nation are going to bombard social media and the comment section to call me jealous or a hypocrite or some other type of name, but Burris’ list is trash and his reasoning he gave for a lot of his picks do not hold up to even the tiniest bit of scrutiny.

It’s Hank doing what he does and giving his own HOT TAEK to get his name back in the news and give his ego a nice stroke

36 Comments on Henry Burris needs to take his QB rankings and shove it

Nic Josh. I had a feeling of resentment from Burris too after reading his column.
You hit the nail on the head. Henry is a hypocrite and terrible analyst with a huge ego. His thought process “IS” a joke. I even noticed a couple statement last season, in a roundabout way, Trevor Harris is not Burris (me).
Hank may have been a good QB, but his football mind, post football, is a joke, like his fake personality.

MR Green – Hank was a great QB that won the MOP 2 seasons ago and the Grey Cup hero last season.
Collaros has never won the MOP and never won a Grey Cup.
Why is Hank a hypocrite – I think you are another “cry baby” Ticat fan that was upset that Burris left and became a great QB in Ottawa and now a great analyst.
Collaros didn’t work out – too bad.
Maybe he will get back in the top 10 but he has to demonstrate he belongs up there.

Hank was not a great quarterback, he was slightly above average and if you played him right he would self destruct (see 2013 grey cup). He had some good streaks but to call him great is a massive exaggeration.

Bridge is too high. All he has is his scramble and deep ball arm. No touch to his passes, struggles with accuracy, rushes his short throws, well known “gamer” not a “practice and film guy”. QB’s like that never reach elite status and rarely grow past their nature abilities. I’d have Jennings, Franklin and Collaros above Bridge based on their body of work to date.

If Collaros flops, the Riders are in big trouble if Bridge is the starter. He won’t catch teams off-guard like he did in his first few appearances last season. They have plenty of tape on him now and it was clear as the season went on, teams began to figure him out.

BLM isn’t a 1B either(2 or 3 sure but not level with MR), especially given the shoulder issue he’s dealing with. Usually the first sign of a decline in QB’s and his numbers would tend to suggest the trend is that of decline, not vise versa.

Chris – what does your insulting comments have to do with Burris’s opinion about current QB rankings?
He was an All-star QB, MOP, Grey Cup winner that has seen them all.
You don’t like Burris, fair enough but you have to respect someone’s opinions.
Collaros is no longer a QB in the top 10

Zack had some talent around him but didn’t have the confidence this past year, and was on a team where the coach was losing the room. With Jones, it may have been different, but Zack is also not Masoli; JM is perfectly suited to JJ’s offence.

Must say I’m liking KA a lot better as a manager and builder of a roster, than I was of him as a coach. He seemed to be a guy hell-bent on proving HIS offence worked, without regard for WHO was on that offence! I’ve always believed you mould the game plan to the talents and skill-sets of the players, not the other way around. You can’t turn a pig into a racehorse; you just end up with a pretty fast pig.

Dear Josh, sounds like you suffer from the same “HOT TAEK” trying to get your name current on 3DN.
Try to understand, Burris was asked for “HIS” top nine QB’s not yours. Nobody asked for yours Josh!!!… nobody asked for mine either, If so, I may have my own order…that would be my personal thoughts!!!. Josh take your article and shove it!!

Even if the list was complete garbage, is that worthy of flying off the handle like this? Who cares unless, like Josh, you have an axe to grind and the best way to do that is to accuse someone of writing a list with…an axe to grind.

Hey. Darian Durant isn’t 0 and 12. Excuses are made for Collaros. He had a bad O line. He lost his best receiver. He had bad coaching. He had a bad team all around him. Well, Durant had all that and more for the last three years. He has played in a grease fire. Can Collaros come back? Maybe. If he can, he will move up that list. Can Durant come back? Maybe. If both were surrounded by good teams, good O lines and good coaches, anything is possible. I don’t think Burris’s ratings are that far off. Where do you put a QB that is 0 and 12? It is up to Collaros to get back on the list and work his way back up.

So, Durant played poorly under a terrible system in Montreal, and doesn’t deserve to be on the list, but Collaros played poorly under a terrible system in Hamilton and “ITS NOT HIS FUALT GUYS!!!!!11”? Yeah, that makes sense.

Can’t argue with this being Henrrrry’s opinion. But really, are the CFL, TSN and 3D going to call on this guy for opinion – I sure hope not. Hank is an ego maniac and only looking for attention and his opinions are so biased he’s laughable. Please send him packing.

Your name tells the whole story of you. If the Stamps choke what would your team be called??? They have been quite successful going to Grey Cups and probably beating your team to get there!!Rider fan? probably.or any other west division team the Stamps have been disposing of

Durant on any Top 10 is even laughable in a 9 team league. Glenn had an opportunity to remove his choke label in the playoffs and instead he through a boatload of interceptions. Neither player is the Rider starter anymore because Jones wants to win a championship and hitched his cart to Collaros and Bridge. Both are better than the two pivots mentioned earlier in my post and will give Jones a much better opportunity to win than Durant and Glenn.

Burris may or may not be over rated but he is entitled to an opinion. He did have some success in this league. But to call him out because he didn’t put a QB on the list that is 0 and 12 at this point is laughable and makes Josh look like he has the same problems that he accuses Burris of having. Suck it up, Josh, if Collaros is as good as you think, he will have his chance to prove it this year. If the ratings had been for the 2013 year, both Collaros and Durant would have been close to the top. But it was present day. I think the insults you hurled at Durant were totally uncalled for. It was childish and spiteful.

Burris put in the sweat equity for many years while he was playing. That allows him an opinion. Henry was asked for his opinion and provided it. Henry was good for the league cause creating waves creates interest. Henry’s career ended on a fairytale note. Good for him and R nation. Burris has charisma love or hate it. It’s good for the league and creates conversation. Also good. Lastly Henry is now Canadian very good. We need personalities to keep interest going. Keep talking Henry

Good. I am glad it’s not me. My “BS” meter runs pretty high with this guy. How TSN hired him after ripping into their crew at half-time that day is beyond me.

Give him lots of props for what he did at QB though. Love the fact that he made Canada his adopted country for his family. But Hank is flawed man. Never bought that “can barely walk” limp after Grey Cup, either.

Dead on, Josh, I totally agree with you. I’m amazed TSN ever hired Burris.
Many of these posters do not realize that Collaros did not have Fantuz, Banks or Tolliver in the lineup. He had Tasker, but with few targets, double teaming is easy, and Zach was running for his life in the ‘no run offence’, which Masoli did not have to deal with.

I don’t think many of you “get” the shove it comment that Josh made. He is using it in the context of Burris’s own quote during that half-time meltdown live on TSN’s “At The Half.” He perceived being slighted by the panel and said his detractors could basically shove it.

So no, this is not an ad hominem attack by Josh as some of you misperceive.

Of course we get that. Leaving aside that it’s 18 months old and pretty well everyone but Josh is well past that, there’s a slight difference in scale here. Burris was in the heat of the moment (halftime) and had been criticized for weeks. Josh…disagrees with the reasoning behind a list of top QBs that Burris was asked to produce.

So what? Add it to your seemingly-endless “reasons why Burris hurts my soul” list and stop cluttering up the site with this childishness. I hated Matt Dunigan as a player but you don’t see me creating reasons to bring it up constantly.

Zach was running for his life last year because he couldn’t decide where to throw the ball. The Oline play wasn’t great albeit, Zach wasn’t able to scramble and make plays with his feet either. Masoli was better because he was able to use his legs. Banks at WR gave Masoli a deep option, something Zach didn’t have. I hope Zach figures things out in Sask, but he wasn’t what we have become accustomed to last year. The Ticats had talen last year, but it wasn’t used to their strengths until JJ started calling the plays.